CSBG Archive

What I bought – 27 February and 6 March 2013

George looked at his granddaughter’s empty suit. He thought of Job. Satan lacked imagination. To crack a man’s faith, one need not resort to burning his flesh, ruining his finances, or any such obvious afflictions. One need only take a man’s species away from him. (James Morrow, This Is The Way The World Ends)

Lots of books this week, so strap in! I thought about skipping the week of 27 February, but I wanted to write about some of the books, so this is even later than you might have expected. Sorry! Of course, for this first book, I’m going to SPOIL things rotten, but if you don’t know what happened yet, well, you might want to get out of that cave you’re living in. Just sayin’.

I’m really torn about this issue. I’ve long been ranting about the Blood-‘N’-Guts mentality abroad in DC Land, and this is just another example of it. The God of All Comics puts his 10-year-old creation, Damian Wayne, in a terrible situation and, after letting Chris Burnham draw a beautiful page of 10-year-old Damian Wayne getting beaten to within an inch of his life, skewers him on a sword. 10-year-old Damian Wayne’s own mother, Talia al Ghul, sets him up to get beaten within an inch of his life and then skewered on a sword. G-Mozz, I’m sure, meant it to be disturbing, and it is. But it’s still torture porn, as lovingly as it’s done. What is the point of showing 10-year-old Damian Wayne skewered on a sword like a piece of meat? If we’re to believe that this is Morrison’s long-form look at the degradation of the nuclear family … well, I don’t buy that, but does he need to take the metaphorical and make it literal? Are comic book readers that stupid? If he wants to show that the kids pay when Mom and Dad fight, Damian is already pretty screwed up, and we know that. So I’m not buying it. I’ve written before about how I don’t like Morrison’s characterization of Talia, because she’s so damned evil it’s just dumb, and she doesn’t seem to have any motivation beyond being evil. Even Ra’s at his evillest wasn’t as cruel as Talia – he gave Talia dozens of chances even though she kept screwing up his plans, and she betrayed him far more deeply than Damian ever did to her. And when Ra’s did attempt to destroy Talia, she was a grown woman, not a 10-year-old. I don’t want to hear anything about a Lazarus Pit and how Damian is probably coming back and how IPs never stay dead, because I’m not talking about the future, I’m talking about this very issue. Can anyone tell me what the point of this issue is? The reason I call it “torture porn” is because it seems, to me, that Morrison is simply writing this entire issue – this entire past few issues, in fact – to reach a point where 10-year-old Damian Wayne gets beaten to within an inch of his life and then skewered on a sword. It also turns a fascinating character – 10-year-old Damian Wayne – into a “Sidekick in a Refrigerator.” The point of WiR is not that women get killed, but that they are created to be killed, and they’re killed solely to provoke an emotional response in the (usually male) main character. What, ultimately, was the point of 10-year-old Damian Wayne? He never added much to the Bat-mythos except snottiness (which was part of his charm, frankly) and, because his creator offed him, it feels like he fits the definition perfectly – he was created lo those many years ago so that the GoAC could skewer him on a sword and show how that made Batman and the rest of the Bat-family feel. It lets Bruce shed a tear in Detective Comics #18 (which is down below, even though it came out the following week) and feel bad that his poor son is dead. With those two pages, Morrison ruins years of work on the character, as he created him as a jerk and made him endearing. Again, I get that everyone in mainstream superhero comics has an out, and I hate that we’re all so cynical that we think it’s okay for a 10-year-old to get snapped in half, choked, thrown head-first into a wall, and skewered on a sword simply because we don’t believe that it will last. Fuck DC and Marvel for doing this to us.

On the other hand, Morrison is such a good writer that he makes 10-year-old Damian’s last stand so compelling, and those two pages where he and Dick talk briefly before going Butch and Sundance on the bad guys (see below) are brilliant. This is what DC should have done with the Bat-family, instead of wrecking the character because Bruce Wayne always comes back: Kept Dick as Batman and made Damian Robin permanently. The Dick/Damian interregnum in the middle of Morrison’s Batman run is superb, and this calls back to it and reminds us why Morrison is such a good writer. But, because Bruce Wayne has to be fucking Batman until the sun goes nova, 10-year-old Damian gets sacrificed. God, fuck DC and Marvel.

Rating: Fuck it, I don’t know. It’s probably about 7-7½ stars, based on the solid script for about half the book, Burnham’s amazing art, and the wonky 4 pages that he doesn’t draw. But then I think about the ending and I get really mad, so who the fuck knows?

Based on this page, I would guess this is a cheery issue full of good guys punching bad guys!

Burnham does the sound effects as part of the explosion in Panel 1, which is always cool to see. It’s a cool 3-D effect, too, with 10-year-old Damian’s smoke bomb bouncing toward Panel 2, linking it to the smoke that billows up in that panel. Morrison’s only words on the page – in Panel 2 – are part of the joy of this page, as Dick and Damian just enjoy meting out justice to the punks. Burnham’s goofy Panel 3 leads to that very cool Panel 4, where the bad guys come flying out of the smoke. Ellie, who’s very important in this issue (and in future issues?) finishes out the panel, as she watches her heroes in action. This is a wonderful page, making the awful fate in store for 10-year-old Damian even worse.

Colder has been good all along, and Tobin does a nice job sticking the landing, which is harder than it sounds, and this is one of the best horror comics I’ve read in a long time. Tobin continues to hint at a lot of the more disturbing things on the fringes, and the book ends on a satisfying, humorous, and even ambiguous note. I won’t get too much into the only disappointing thing about the series, because I wonder if Tobin has another mini-series up his sleeve – there’s one page where Nimble Jack implies that Declan is so tempting because of who Declan is, but Tobin doesn’t go into it too much. It feels important, though, so I wonder if Tobin has any plans to return to these characters. Even if he doesn’t, he gives us just enough to show why Jack would be so concerned with Declan. But still – this is a good showdown, with Declan showing us something we haven’t seen yet, and Jack surprising us yet again. Reece doesn’t get much to do, unfortunately, but that’s probably not too surprising.

Obviously, if Tobin has any plans to return to the characters, he needs to rope Ferreyra, because he’s so good at making this book come alive. There are some seriously messed-up pages in this book, but Ferreyra is also good enough to sell the softer moments. There’s a nice 2-page spread where Jack and Declan walk through Declan’s memories, and it’s not revolutionary, but it’s something that most artists wouldn’t think of. Ferreyra’s lines look a bit angular and edgy in this issue, and while it doesn’t look rushed, I wonder if he did it to contrast to the quieter moments between Declan and Reece. If you’ve never seen Ferreyra’s artwork, you need to get this trade and marvel at it. Of course, you should all be aware of Ferreyra, because you’ve all bought Rex Mundi, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, buy the trade. This is an excellent comic.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Man, that’s just rude

One thing Ferreyra has done in this series is effortlessly make impossible things seem perfectly plausible. His precision in the first two panels make the images horrific but also realistic, so that Declan’s face in Panel 2 seems more like a mask, so of course Jack can stretch it like that! The lighting in that panel is amazing, too. The bottom panel is the first in a flashback, and not how Ferreyra softens his lines and the coloring to shift the tone from the first two panels. Really nice work here, don’tcha think?

Layman shoehorns Bruce’s reaction to 10-year-old Damian’s death into this issue, as we get a page-and-a-half of Bruce standing at Damian’s grave and crying a single tear (like the Crying Indian) and then, with seemingly no break, Bruce and Alfred are back in the cave talking about Mr. Zsasz. It’s a weird segue in the middle of the issue, and it’s obvious that the whole “Requiem” thing on the cover was dictated by DC Editorial, because the issue has absolutely nothing to do with 10-year-old Damian’s death – he isn’t an integral part of this comic, after all.

Ogilvy is still moving in on the Penguin, and this issue is mainly about how the Penguin gets his comeuppance. Like the rest of Layman’s run, it’s constructed very well – Layman is a good comics writer because he’s able to make single issues work as single issues but also as part of the greater whole. So while Ogilvy has been taking over Cobblepot’s operation for a while, if you just happened to pick this issue up without reading the others, you’ll figure that out easily and also get a nice story about one man’s fall from grace due to his overweening hubris. Cobblepot has been “legitimate” for so long that he can’t comprehend that he might get caught doing something illegal, and Layman does a nice job showing that Batman will use any illegality, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to put the Penguin away. I should point out that there are three panels of Batman using violence in this issue – two when he takes out some thugs, and one when he punches Cobblepot. He doesn’t need to use violence, because he’s Motherfucking Batman. It’s just another subtle way that Layman is trying to make this book different from the rest of the DCnU – it’s dark because of the inks and the colors, but it’s not completely devoid of hope that Batman can use his brains to solve problems. It’s also interesting that he doesn’t do anything about Ogilvy – again, he’s not ready to move on “Emperor Penguin” yet, so what would be the point? Layman also brings in Mr. Zsasz, who has somehow lasted all these years even though his schtick is really dull. I don’t know if his back story is an invention of this issue, but Layman links him to Cobblepot, which makes his employment by Ogilvy a nice twist. As I noted, Layman does a fine job breaking down Cobblepot – there’s even a wickedly funny panel in the book that I doubt would exist in real life but drives home the point that Ogilvy has replaced Cobblepot. It’s kind of depressing that so many writers have done such good work evolving certain characters over the years – Paul Dini making Edward Nigma a consulting detective (still an absolutely brilliant move), Morrison making a new Batman-and-Robin team, Layman replacing the Penguin – and DC refuses to let them stick. Maybe Ogilvy will manage to stick around?

Fabok continues to do solid work, although I do wish the book wasn’t quite so dark. The inks are really overwhelming, and Cox’s palette is limited and dull – Cox is a pretty good colorist, but he does like to make everything dark. One thing that really bothered me about the art is Penguin’s monocle. It’s really big, and it seems like Fabok isn’t sure how to make it work with Cobblepot’s face. This has always been a problem with the Penguin – how does his monocle stay glued to his face? – but it’s exacerbated by Fabok’s “realistic” style, because it really does look out of place. I know Fabok draws the book digitally, and I kept wondering if he drew Cobblepot’s face and then simply drew a monocle over the initial drawing. It doesn’t look like Cobblepot is using any muscles to hold it in place – it often looks like it’s just floating in front of his eye. When it’s as big as it is in the issue, it becomes distracting. I’ve been picking on Fabok’s facial expressions, but I don’t have too many problems with them in this issue, mainly because everyone scowls a lot, and Fabok seems to do scowls well. It’s just that monocle. Hilariously enough, Fabok draws it over Cobblepot’s left eye. In the back-up story, Jonsson draws it over Cobblepot’s right eye. And, to be fair, Jonsson doesn’t do very much with either Cobblepot or Ogilvy holding it on their faces, either. Maybe it’s just really difficult to do, man!

Anyway, Layman and Fabok continue to do solid work on Detective. Next month is issue #900, and it will be interesting to see what Layman does with it. From what he’s told me, it sounds like it might actually be worth the 8 bucks. We’ll see!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Batman tells it like it is!

There’s nothing really spectacular about this page, just solid storytelling. You can see the black-drenched artwork, which I think works against it a bit. Like a lot of digital art, this works better on screen, but when DC prints it on the glossy paper they use, it becomes much darker. Hasn’t anyone figured this out yet?

Keatinge and I had an interesting conversation at ECCC, one that I figure is probably between us (I doubt if Keatinge would mind if I wrote about it, but I don’t feel like it), and it’s part of why I like going to cons, because I really enjoy it when comics creators are willing to challenge me as much as I challenge them. This has nothing to do with this issue of Glory, but I just wanted to point out that I respect Keatinge more than I already did even if I don’t completely agree with him. That’s what makes life fascinating!

One thing I like about this run of Glory is that Keatinge takes something that should have been so very SPOILERY and forces it to be non-spoilery at all. If you’ve been paying attention, you know how this issue is going to end, but good writers don’t care about simply using shock value to make their stories note-worthy – in fact, I would argue that shock value is the final refuge of the creatively bankrupt (oh yes I would!). I’m not going to spoil what happens in this issue, but it didn’t surprise me in the least. But that didn’t matter, because most of this issue is such a gut-punch that by the time you reach the inevitable conclusion, you’ve been run through the wringer so much that it’s almost a relief to get there. The entire issue is a big fight, as Glory leads her friends and, it seems, every character Rob Liefeld ever created into battle, and bad things happen almost immediately. Campbell absolutely kills on this issue, giving us horrific scenes of slaughter and a hauntingly beautiful yet still horrifying final few pages. Gieni and Solis, meanwhile, temper the brightness of earlier issues just enough to imply that things are much more disturbing than they were when the series started, even though the tone has always been a bit dark. This is just a tremendous issue in a superb run, and I can’t wait to see how Keatinge and Campbell bring it all to a close.

Image would be daft not to produce a 12-issue monster hardcover of this run. They’re not daft, are they?

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Dang, Henry

This is just one of the many brilliant pages in this issue. The point of view in Panel 1 is nicely done, giving us a sense of how close to death everyone is, and Campbell manages to make Henry’s monstrous face in Panel 3 look both enraged, sad, and even a bit puzzled. Obviously, things are about to get worse, but Panel 3 is a nice moment before even more shit hits the fan.

* That’s counting the first three pages, which shouldn’t count but do.

Boy howdy, this is a pretty lousy comic, and while it’s a “.1″ issue and is therefore necessarily full of exposition crap, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t judge it like a regular issue. Didn’t a very short version of this run somewhere? I know I read some of it before, and I’m too lazy to look it up. Anyway, for some reason, Bendis decided to waste what little time he has with McNiven (come on, we know that McNiven will only draw 4 issues in a row – MAX, if he’s had a year to get them in the can – and maybe – MAYBE – 7 of the first 15 issues before he leaves) with an expanded origin story for Peter Quill, which is insulting in its condescension and craftsmanship. Let’s count the ways this sucks, ‘k?

“30 years ago” a spaceship crashes on Earth. A woman named Meredith, who lives in an isolated house, is the only witness, and she saves the pilot, an alien named J’son, and nurses him back to health. Luckily, J’son is super-dreamy, so after a page of bonding (I can almost hear the musical montage with “I Melt With You” playing in the background), they get it on. Naturally, J’son needs to leave the very next day (because of course he does), giving Meredith the lame excuse of “there is a war.” At least Bendis acknowledges that this is a douchey thing to do, but it’s still a douchey thing to do. Meredith, of course, is pregnant (in pop culture, having sex one time almost always leads to pregnancy, especially if something is keeping the lovers apart or if the participants haven’t had sex for a long time – when you haven’t had sex for a long time, your fecundity goes through the roof, which is what SCIENCE tells us!), and after we skip forward a decade, the clichés really crank up!

So now we’re in 1992 or so (“20 years ago” in Marvel parlance, because God fucking forbid we peg a date to a time in the past). Peter Quill is a comics-reading 10-year-old (I’m sure someone has figured out what issue he’s reading – it’s Marvel Comics Presents, but I can’t see which issue it is, nor do I care all that much) who likes to whine. He’s kind of a dick, but he’s 10 – what are you going to do? Anyway, a week after Sam Alexander gets bullied in a school playground and gets in trouble for standing up to the bully, Peter Quill … gets bullied in a playground and gets in trouble for standing up to the bully. Really, Bendis? I get that every single comics writer ever was bullied in school and now that they’re awesome comic book writers and the people who bullied them are working at Taco Bell means that every single comic book writer feels the need to put a scene like this in their comics, but didn’t Bendis stop for just one second and think, “Do I REALLY want to put such a hackneyed scene in this comic? Dare I? Hell, yes, I dare – no one can stop the Bendis!” (I like to think that Bendis refers to himself in the third person.) Then, of course, Meredith gets refrigerated, as the Badoom show up and blast her. Meredith is probably the epitome of the Women in Refrigerator – she not only exists to give the hero a reason to be full of rage, she exists only to give birth to said hero and then be killed by cowards, so not only does Peter Quill owe his existence to her, his entire raison d’etre focuses on her murder and the douchebag father who obliquely caused it. Dang, Bendis, well played. Then, of course, Peter Quill finds the awesome gun that J’son left for him, and on the final three pages, we find out that he’s been narrating this entire thing to Tony Stark as an explanation for why he’s … guarding the galaxy? Even though all he cares about is protecting Earth? I’m not sure how that works.

This has been getting some good reviews, and I don’t get it. This is a 3-page recap stretched into 30 pages, and it’s mostly pretty dull. We don’t really learn anything about any characters, because they’re such stereotypes that they’re not actually characters yet. I know this is Bendis’s thing – I saw that Age of Ultron begins in media res, which is pretty stunning for a Bendis book – but there’s absolutely no reason for this book to exist. What’s the point of Coogan, the bully? We know Peter Quill is a hero, so who cares that he stood up to a bully? I don’t know if we knew anything about his mom prior to this issue, but why does Bendis have to specifically fridge her? I mean, if he’s just using the template of other writers, couldn’t he have just ignored the fact that she’s a WiR because he has to know that’s what she is, right? I mean, this is a book with Rocket Raccoon and Groot and Drax and Gamora, and Bendis focuses on the absolutely dullest character. Well, except for Tony Stark. I know there’s a reason for Iron Man to be there, but that doesn’t make it any less dumb.

McNiven’s art is nice, though. I tend not to buy McNiven’s comics, because he’s usually working on Big Marvel Events, but I don’t know if his art has gotten less slick gradually or if this is a new look, perhaps helped by Dell’s inks. It’s still that hyper-realistic style, but a bit rougher than it’s been in the past. Too bad it’s in the service of a really dull issue.

Four bucks for what could have easily been 3 or 4 pages of story. Good call, Marvel! I’m sure it will sell like gangbusters. Blech.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

How did his hair get that way?

Meredith’s charred corpse lies on the floor in Panel 1, which is a fine way to begin this page, right? I just like the way McNiven moves us across the page – there’s a decent sense of movement and tension, although Peter’s expression in Panel 3 is just weird. He’s just seen his mom’s corpse, of course, and he realizes the Badoon are going to kill him next, but that seems like an exaggerated reaction to it, like a goofy double-take face. Still, it’s a pretty good page. Bendis should have let McNiven draw more action, because the very brief action scene in this comic is well done.

Damn it, Hawkguy! Issue #6 was so good, and while I didn’t love issue #7, it was kind of crammed in to help raise money for the hurricane, so I let it go (and it wasn’t bad, but I just didn’t love it). But now here’s issue #8, with Aja doing his thing, and some brilliant pin-ups by Annie Wu that hearken back to 1950s romance comics, and … it’s not so great. Again, as with all of these issues, there’s plenty of good stuff in it, and the artwork is of course tremendous, and Fraction actually uses Wu’s pin-ups in a clever way, but … it’s just missing something. Clint is dumber than usual in this issue, and I just can’t behind the idea of him as “idiot frat boy” that Fraction is going for – it just feels like he’s too clueless, and shouldn’t he have learned some things in his 50 years of existence? I’m glad that Fraction has tried to give him a discernible personality that’s not like any other superhero, but it’s fine line to walk between “lovably goofy” and “downright stupid,” and in this series, Fraction doesn’t always walk that line perfectly. In this issue, Clint falls into the latter category, and it weakens the issue. I mean, Penny wants Clint to steal the contents of a safe that’s inside the Track Suit Mafia’s strip club, and when he logically asks “What’s in the safe?”, she says “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.” Ignoring the fact that people don’t talk like that, Clint still goes along with the heist even though he explains what a bad idea it is. Really, Clint? Think with your dick much?

I guess issue #9 will tell the same story from a different perspective, so maybe it will make more sense, but I just don’t know about this comic. This and Saga piss me off so much, because Fraction and Vaughan can be so, so good and it pains me when they’re not. I mean, Kate Bishop is visible in two panels in this entire issue and she kicks so much ass that it’s just not funny. How can Fraction make her 24 words so good yet everything else is so … blah? Man.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Kate Bishop FTMFW!

Look how brilliantly Fraction and Aja set up this page. Obviously Clint and Penny are in the back seat of a car, but we don’t know if it’s a taxi or what until the bottom row. If they were in a taxi, Penny’s clothes change might be odd but not out of place in a New York cab, while their conversation would either be ignored by the driver or unheard because of the glass partition. Then, in the bottom row, Fraction drops Kate into the book, and the previous panels become even funnier and more uncomfortable. Plus, Aja draws her with such contempt on her face in both the panels in which she appears, while Clint looks like a chastised teenager when he’s standing outside the car. Notice, too, that there’s no reason why Penny takes off her coat. But it makes the gag better, so I can forgive it. This is a superb page, and a very good way to make a conversation in comics work instead of just having two characters talk to each other.

I’ve been jazzed about Helheim since I first heard about it, and while it’s not the perfect comic book, it’s a pretty darned good first issue. Unlike, say, Bendis, Bunn uses his space carefully, so that we not only get quite a bit of information about the principal characters, but also a ton of action. Plus, the central premise of the book is explained on the last few pages, and while it’s not the deepest premise in the world – Frankenstein monsters + Vikings – it will certainly do, amirite?

The book is set in A.D. 580, which is deep enough in the pre-Viking days (the “Viking era” technically begins in A.D. 793) that Bunn can play fast and loose with history without upsetting the apple cart too much – we know very little about Scandinavian history in the 6th century, so who’s to say there weren’t witches stitching dead Norse warriors into super-warriors? It could have totally happened!!!! We get a main character, Rikard, whose clan is fleeing from freaky evil-looking dudes toward their settlement. Rikard sees a weird vision of himself, but that’s just a teaser for later. We find out that their enemies steal the bodies of those they kill, or at least Rikard’s people think they do, and that they’re under the rule of a “witch.” Rikard is shacked up with Bera, and the moment I saw her, I thought of Pop Culture Rule #1, but Bunn puts an interesting spin on that by the end of the issue. Meanwhile, the skeletons of the evil dudes they’ve just killed rip out of the corpses’ bodies and start fighting. Oh dear. I’m not sure if I want to give away the ending, but involves stitching dead Norse warriors into super-warriors. You might be able to guess the rest, especially if you’ve read anything about the series.

I’m always amazed to read a lot of independent work from creators almost simultaneously with their mainstream superhero work. Bunn is writing Fearless Defenders, of course, and he must have had Vikings rising from the dead on the brain, because the first issue of that book brought up zombie Vikings, or Vombies™. That book was okay, but Helheim is just … better. Bunn doesn’t need to use established characters, so he can do things with the characters in this book that he can’t do with Marvel characters, and the script of this book just feels more confident than Fearless Defenders, as if Bunn just doesn’t care. Some writers can do magnificent work within the confines of corporate comics, but it’s really fascinating to see writers who write both kinds of books, because the creator-owned stuff is, almost without exception, better. If you’re going to read an undead Viking story written by Cullen Bunn, the only thing Fearless Defenders has over this comic is a lesbian kiss.

This is due, of course, partly to Jones, who should be a far bigger superstar artist than she is. I joked with Bunn in Seattle that Jones is the only reason to get this comic, but she is, frankly, a very good reason to get it (especially if you’re not familiar with Bunn’s work). She has a beautiful, idiosyncratic style that works in many different genres, and while she, like so many artists, isn’t perfect with action, she’s pretty good at it. Her characters are well defined, she gets a lot of their personality in their facial expressions and their body language, and her design work is very good. As with most artists, the characters look a little too clean for a historical setting, but Jones puts them in appropriate and distinctive clothing and hair styles. She’s exceptionally good at the horror aspects of the book, too, which is, you know, helpful. Filardi’s coloring is done well, too, as the dark blues of the night slowly give way to yellow flame and then red as the book becomes more bloody, until we reach the completely reddish last page, indicating the horror turn the book has taken. It’s nice and subtle and logical, but it helps shift the tone of the book well.

I don’t know how objective I can be about this book – Bunn is writing one of the best books on the market right now (The Sixth Gun), the idea sounds great, and I’m totally in the bag for Jones’s art. But still – I think it’s definitely worth a look, if you’re looking for a nice horror comic with Vikings. And you are, aren’t you?

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Testify, Admiral Ackbar!

I like that middle panel, because Jones manages to cram in the idea that the skeletons are kind of forming out of the smoke and lining up. It’s less concrete and a bit more abstract, as she tries to get a lot of information into that narrow panel. I also like how the characters are lined up in Panel 3 – it’s pretty much in order of importance in this issue, which is kind of clever.

There’s a lot to like about the latest issue of JiM, which isn’t surprising because it’s been good for the first three issues of the arc, so why not for this one? The first page, in fact, is quite cool, because Immonen is depicting a man about to commit suicide, but she does it rather subtly. Suicide is certainly a serious subject, but the fact that the dude picks the absolute wrong time to jump off a building, given that Sif, her warrior band, and Spider-Ock are right outside the building fighting Rorgg, King of the Spider-Men, is pretty funny. Immonen subtly makes the point that you never really know what’s going to happen in New York, and weird stuff always gets in the way of life … or the ending of it, as the case might be.

Anyway, this is another cleverly written, beautifully drawn chapter in Sif’s journey. Immonen makes me fall in love with Spider-Ock just a little, and I hope that Slott is writing him as well in his own book, and then she drags a bunch of monsters out of Marvel obscurity so they can threaten humanity. Immonen writes the second-best Monica Rambeau ever, even though she’s only on one page, and she implies that Patsy Walker enjoys orgies, which is … weird? The page with a monster threatening Tokyo is obvious but still funny, and the ending seems to point to something far more sinister going on in Asgard than we’ve seen. I don’t know – this is just a cool-ass book, and Schiti is absolutely killing it. He gets to draw a lot more slaughter, but a lot of this issue is banter, so Schiti’s reaction shots help drive the humor, and he nails those, too. It’s just a really enjoyable comic, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Immonen wraps it all up.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Poor Rorgg and his Spider-Men!

The final panel of this well structured page is brilliant. Schiti draws a leer through Spider-Ock’s mask that we can totally see, and Sif’s disgusted reaction to his advances is priceless. Little things like this make comics excellent. Yay, comics!

Man, DC. These digital-first stories are just so, so good (mostly), and yet I have to imagine that they’re not selling because they don’t “count.” Jeebus, I hate that that’s the first criterion of most superheroes-only fans – “DOES THIS FUCKING COUNT?” I made the mistake of looking at the comments for CBR’s review of the latest issue of ‘Tec (see my review above!) and a lot of commenters were trying to figure when it takes place in relation to the other Bat-titles. I mean, they really cared about it. Now, I mentioned that the scene with Bruce at Damian’s grave was jammed in where it didn’t belong, and that’s fine, but then I just moved on. I don’t give a shit if it takes place before or after Batman, Incorporated #9, and neither should anyone else. I just want to read a good Batman comic. Continuity is so fucked that it doesn’t really matter when ‘Tec #18 takes place. But if it didn’t reflect what’s happening in other Bat-titles, it might not count, so then we’d have to ignore it. Who cares whether it’s any good, right?

Which is how we get back to LotDK. I mean, Parker’s story is nothing special – Batman foils some liquor store robbers – but it shows some nice things, like Gotham’s citizens standing up for themselves (the title has a double meaning, yo!) and it’s never a bad thing to see Hardman drawing Batman. There’s one panel in this that doesn’t make a lick of sense, but otherwise, it’s superb. It reminds me of Lee Weeks a bit, and he’s another artist who should draw a whole shitload more of Batman. Oeming then draws Batman fighting a dragon. WHY THE FUCK NOT? As usual, it’s a story I like because it’s not just Batman beating the shit out of someone, it’s Batman trying to take down the dragon without killing it and Killer Croc showing up to prove, once again, that he’s a far more interesting character than some writers realize. Finally, Rob Williams gives us a bit of an obvious story about a creepy hitman and his freaky van, but it’s still very solid. The hitman is pretty awesome, and Ryp doesn’t draw Batman as well as the other two dudes, but he does creepy shit really well, so there’s that. These “Legends” don’t need to be canonical, they just need to be awesome, and they have been, for the most part. But they don’t count. So they don’t sell as well. Sometimes I hate comics fans.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Ka-BOOOM!

Batman dropping onto the roof of a car and crushing is iconic and even clichéd, but that’s mostly because it gets a “FUCK YEAH!” whenever it happens, so Hardman goes whole hog with this. Parker’s script doesn’t mention why Batman happens to be out in the daytime, and the art doesn’t really show that it’s daytime – maybe it’s twilight? It’s an odd moment in an otherwise solid little story.

McCann and Lee are presumably working hard on the sequel to The Return of the Dapper Men, but for now, they check in with this mini-series, which Lee gets to draw instead of creating by gluing shit to a wooden board (her original art for Dapper Men is really, really cool, but it’s awfully cumbersome). So we get a story about Roland, an inveterate gambler who can’t pay his debts, so he has to work them off in indentured servitude on “Lost Vegas,” a giant gambling spaceship.

It’s not a bad beginning, although that’s due mostly to Lee’s inventive artwork. McCann sets up a lot, so it’s very much a “by-the-numbers” kind of book – we’re introduced to Roland, who’s taken away by some shadowy dudes and forced to work. Five years later, he’s finally been able to plan an escape, and he needs some help to do it. McCann lays out some of the plan, introduces a potential problem, and ends the issue with Roland getting tumbled by the “bad guys.” It’s interesting, certainly, but nothing spectacular. It’s enough to draw us into the story, and McCann obviously hopes that the strange setting and the promise of hijinks will be enough to get people to come back. It will for me, but then again, I have to pre-order comics, so I trusted this based on the creators’ previous work. Whether it works for you … well, that’s up to you, isn’t it?

Lee’s artwork is tremendous, which helps when you’re trying to sell this weird world. There’s a “Fifth Element” element to it, as it’s on board a pleasure spaceship with a lot of weird creatures, but Lee’s style helps make the artifice even more artificial, not a bad thing in a comic where the bad guys use some sort of technology to make everyone look the same. She uses the space really well – some of the book is deliberately cramped, which helps create the sense of everyone packed into Lost Vegas’s version of steerage and contrasts nicely with the expanses of the main rooms, where Lee gets to open up a bit. There’s a two-page spread of an acrobat performing, and it’s breathtaking. There’s a lot of cool design work, too, as Lee keeps most of the aliens bipedal but mixes it up enough to make things weird. Sotomayor makes the whole thing pop, too, with a lot of powerful colors and shiny special effects. It’s a very good-looking comic, and it makes the fact that McCann is simply putting his pieces in place a bit easier to take.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in Lost Vegas, but I like these kinds of stories, and Lee’s artwork is really good. It’s a no-brainer for me, at least!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

That’s a nice creepy smile there, Bisa

I like this page because it gives you an example of the kind of creature design Lee has done for this book. I just dig the various species hanging out on the fringes while Bisa punches Roland. Roland’s facial expression is pretty well done, too – he looks awfully puzzled, which I imagine how a lot of people who get sucker-punched look.

Mara has become a difficult book to write about when the single issues come out, because it’s so very much written for the trade that while each single issue moves the plot along, there’s a plot only gradually taking shape. So in this issue, Mara explores the limits of her power a bit, people continue to react negatively, and by the end of it all, the real plot comes into focus as the military comes to call. Wood’s an interesting writer, and Doyle is still doing fine, but that’s about all I want to write about this.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

That’s one way to stop a bullet

Doyle and Bellaire do a nice job in Panel 1, as the studio audience is in the dark in an earlier panel, but the muzzle flash lights them up eerily and makes the ones on the periphery almost ghostly. Doyle does a nice job in Panels 2 and 3, too, as our sense of time is elongated by the fact that she uses two panels for Mara to notice the shot and stand up – Mara is seeing the world in slow motion these days, so of course that’s how she’ll perceive the bullet. The final panel is nice, too – we’ve already seen it from the front, so Doyle reverses it to hide the damage, knowing we don’t need to see it again. Seeing only a bit of the blood is effective.

Meanwhile, Wood continues to do a pretty decent job with The Massive, although I’m sure he’ll be happy to know I have a bit of a problem with the way this issue ends. Much like Mara, he’s telling a long story, but because The Massive is going to take longer, he can take some time to get to it. So he gives us some more back story about a different character – Georg – and introduces some plot points that I imagine will take some time to play out. For the end of a brief arc, it feels a bit anticlimactic, but the nice thing about Wood is that he does this quite often and well – he confounds our expectations, usually in good ways. Of course Callum and his crew aren’t going to stay on Moksha Station, but the way Wood gets them off the platform is interesting and not what we think will happen.

Of course, Wood kind of stumbles at the end. I guess he feels he needs to give us some closure, but he returns to his heavy-handed omniscient narration, and I don’t think he needs to let us know what he does. I mean, it closes a loophole, I suppose, but he could have let us know the facts in a different way, even several issues from now. The final narrative box is kind of obvious, too, and is something that could show up again, so … I don’t know, it just seems like Wood doesn’t always trust his audience to make the leaps he makes for them. It’s weird.

Anyway, I still don’t love The Massive, but it’s pretty good. I don’t have any reason to stop reading it, and it’s intriguing enough for me to want to find out what’s going to happen. That might be a weak endorsement, but there it is. I mean, I can barely get through some comics, but The Massive keeps me on my toes, and that’s pretty neat.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Lars – THE GREATEST CHARACTER IN COMICS!

Nice work by both Brown and Stewart on this page. Lars is trying to make a nice homemade weapon, but he’s out of time. Brown leads us nicely from the “bad guys” moving in and Lars deciding it’s “now or never” and chucking his jugs. Stewart, meanwhile, uses his greens and blues well to give the impression of the storm and making Lars look a bit sickly, heightening the idea that he’s outmatched even though he has his secret weapon. Nice work all around!

Much like DC’s digital-first Batman (and soon Superman) stories, IDW has taken an “all-star” approach to their license of the Rocketeer, as they started with the anthology and then put Waid and Samnee on a mini-series. Now that that’s done, we get Langridge and Bone, and that’s just fine. The Rocketeer could use some forward momentum, but it’s not completely essential, and if IDW wants to go this route, that’s fine. Langridge and Bone are, after all, pretty danged good at what they do.

As this is a set-up issue, we’re introduced to the principals – a friend of Betty’s, a reporter (named Dahlia, probably because of the Black Dahlia) goes to dig up some dirt on a missing scientist as a cult leader. Of course they’re connected, and of course Dahlia gets in way over her head. Meanwhile, the people from whom Cliff took the rocket device want it back, and they’re willing to do nasty things to get it. Betty decides to help Dahlia on her own because Cliff thinks women shouldn’t be taking risks, and a husband-and-wife detective team (who are in NO WAY modeled on William Powell and Myrna Loy) are also trying to find the missing scientist, and they turn to Peevy, who happens to know the dude. Oh, and Cliff loses his wallet. It’s totally important!

I’m sure that Langridge is going for some kind of Lovecraftian thing here, and that’s fine, even though I’m not a huge fan of Lovecraftian stuff. But there’s a lot going on, and Bone’s art is nice to see, and this is a good beginning to the mini-series. It’s the Rocketeer – it will probably be entertaining, you know?

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Come on, Dahlia, you should know better!

I love the old-school jagged lines to show a phone conversation; we don’t see that anymore because land lines are so archaic (see: This past week’s episode of “Cougar Town,” where bad news traveled by land line). But Bone and Bellaire do a nice job with the contrast of Betty’s cheery light panels and Dahlia’s dark ones, and Bone makes sure to back Dahlia into a corner when the tentacle reaches for her, which is probably not hard to figure out for an artist but still works really well. This is just good, old-fashioned comic book storytelling, and it’s good to see.

Casey’s latest shows up, with its provocative and joke-making title, and the results are … a bit boring, to be frank. It’s definitely a set-up issue, and I’m certainly going to keep buying it, but unlike the last time Casey started a series (Butcher Baker, that is), he takes his time a bit. He introduces us to Simon Cooke, a former superhero in Saturn City, who returns to town after an absence to run his company after he promised not to do any superheroing. There’s a senior citizen bad guy who’s plotting something, as well. The final part of the book is where it earns its title, as Cooke goes to a live sex show but doesn’t seem all that interested in the shenanigans. This leads to the owner of the establishment making herself known, and it’s not surprising that Cooke knows her – she’s probably an ex-lover, but is she an ex-hero or ex-villain, as well? We shall see!

There’s nothing really wrong with Sex #1, unlike that Guardians of the Galaxy issue above. Casey sets up the players and shows us quite a bit about Simon Cooke without it feeling too ponderous. If you’re interested in looking at drawings of two women having sex, well, there’s certainly that, too. I imagine (hope?) the somewhat enervating sex scene is part of Casey’s master plan – if Butcher Baker was about a virile superhero enjoying lots of sex, Sex could certainly be its opposite number, a story about a superhero who no longer enjoys it. We’ll see.

Kowalski has been working in Europe for a while, but I’ve only seen one of his comics, and his art is pretty good. Here he does a solid job, although the script doesn’t require too many gymnastics from him, even in the sex scene. The real star of the artwork in this issue, at least, is Simpson, who saturates the pages with almost overwhelming primary colors, giving Saturn City’s night life an obnoxious, lurid tone. That’s the point, of course, as Cooke’s daytime is cool and blue while the night is bright red and yellow. Simpson uses this palette well during the sex scene, as the women are hot red and yellow while Cooke is blue, indicating his distance from the heat of sex. It’s not subtle, but it is effective, and it makes the book really pop well.

Obviously, I’m a fan of Casey’s, so I’m going to keep buying this. And again, this isn’t really a bad issue, but it is strangely low-key. Casey is always interesting, though, so I’m looking forward to what exactly he’s doing with this comic. That, and his back matter/letters pages are always entertaining!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

No bewbies for you!

This is a nice example of Simpson’s coloring. The first two panels take place in the kitchen, so they’re dully colored with sickly green. Then we move into the club, and the assault on the senses begins. It’s a really nice mix of hots and cools, with the Alpha Brothers in blue and purple while the rest of the club is in red. Notice the lettering, too – Wooton is decent enough, but I’m not a fan of the colors highlighting certain words. It draws too much attention to the artifice, which I suppose could be the point. I still don’t love it. I’ll blame Sonia for the idea!!!!

Diggle’s story doesn’t really make a lick of sense … or, actually, it does, but the bad guys’ plot seems so ridiculously complicated that it doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it’s entertaining enough, as we learn more about why people are trying to kill Jake. He also meets a cute hipster girl who’s also tangentially involved in the plot, so that’s nice for him. Diggle doesn’t do anything unique with the story, but he moves us along pretty well. Meanwhile, Jock does his thing – like Diggle, you pretty much know what you’re going to get from him, and if it’s your thing, you’ll think this looks pretty good. His work looks better in black and white, so that’s a bonus.

Snapshot is just an entertaining thriller by two good creators. It doesn’t really need to be anything more than that, I guess.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Shrrangg … Krump!

As far as “realism” goes, this is pretty neat. I suspect that the car would not actually flip over if it hit those concrete pylons, but I’ll allow it. The fact that Jake doesn’t crash works, too, because he doesn’t jump so high or far that it becomes unrealistic. It’s just a nice page!

Things start to come together a bit in this issue, as Morrow wakes up, Eric owes someone a favor, the bad guys are shown to be a bit more sinister than we thought, Penny shows up again, and the doc decides to do some metaphysical surgery on himself, which leads to the dragon. Inside his lung. Yeah, it’s just that kind of comic book.

As usual, this is very well done. Seifert balances the humor and the action and the horror well, and Ketner is good with the creepy aspects of the book, which is a plus (as a lot of it is creepy). He doesn’t just make the book horrific – he makes it creepy with a slight sense of humor, which fits well with Seifert’s writing. He and Troy really bring Seifert’s scripts to life well, as the art is quasi-realistic and very detailed, so the fact that Morrow is wearing a leather helmet with crystals sticking out of it doesn’t look too out of place.

We’re right in the middle of the story, so it’s kind of hard to really write too much about this – Seifert makes sure that plenty happens in each issue, which is nice, but it’s also advancing things toward the conclusion – and so I’ll just say that Witch Doctor continues to be a very good comic. I know, shocking!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

That can’t be good

There’s a lot going on here – Penny has just spoken for the first time in a while, and the two women are freaking out a bit. Seifert explains a bit about Penny, which is handy, and Ketner does a good job not showing all the violence but making sure we know how awful it is. I like how Seifert anticipates the clichéd responses that bad guys have and how Penny brushes them aside. And the final panel is chilling. Ketner’s inks are nice, too, with regard both to the lighting on Penny’s face and how the darkness makes her look sick and powerless even though we know she’s probably going to follow through on her threat. Nicely done!

Gillen focuses on Billy, Teddy, and Loki in this issue, which some people don’t like but I don’t really mind – the team really isn’t a team yet, so instead of wasting time “gathering the team” – we know how deadly dull that can be – Gillen simply throws us into the plot and, presumably, trusts that the team will come together in time. He does, after all, mention that Kate seems to be having some problems with aliens, and I really don’t mind a writer going ambitious when it comes to plotting. If Gillen can keep all these balls in the air, the book will be better for it. I just hope readers let him.

Anyway, Teddy and Billy figure out pretty quickly that Teddy’s “mom” isn’t really Teddy’s mom, but it doesn’t help them. They try to flee to the Avengers (Uncanny version), but the thing’s spell is apparently quite powerful, so Wanda simply gives the boys back to “Mom.” Loki decides to help, but neither Billy or Teddy completely trusts him – probably a good idea (I’ve often mentioned that no one should ever trust Loki, yet people still do, and it’s nice that Billy thinks Loki might be up to something). So they end up in Asgard, where there’s a cliffhanger.

This issue doesn’t crackle quite as much as the first one, mainly because Gillen remains better at dialogue and character development than he does plotting, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad comic. There’s plenty of excellent dialogue, and the plot is a bit better than I thought it might be at the end of issue #1. I still don’t love it, but I can live with it. What makes it work is that Billy and Teddy aren’t idiots. What I mean by that is that even though they acted a bit dumb at the end of issue #1, they realize their mistake and don’t continue to act like idiots in this issue – it’s perfectly logical that they would go to the Avengers, and even though they need Loki, they don’t trust him. Gillen does a good job as well with not spelling everything out and trusting McKelvie – it’s a product of their long colloboration, true, but more writers should trust their artists. Not everything needs to be spelled out!

McKelvie, meanwhile, is wonderful on this book, which isn’t surprising. The way “Mom” ruffles Billy’s hair is both hilarious and slightly creepy, and the panel where Teddy realizes something is terribly wrong is excellent – McKelvie places Teddy and his “mom” on opposite sides of the room, as far from each other as they can be, and we can feel the gulf between his expectations and reality. The two-page sequence where Billy and Teddy are trapped inside the panels is well done, giving us a nice feeling of being trapped outside of reality, which is why it makes sense that Loki can free them. McKelvie keeps getting better, which is pretty cool. This is a gorgeous comic book, and it’s great that these creators (I’m counting Norton and Wilson, too) can work together so well.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf page:

Testify, Loki!

This page shows Gillen’s good dialogue, as Loki gets all the good lines. I like the exchange between Billy and the waitron in Panel 2, because why wouldn’t the dude try to get some extra cash money? The final two panels are an easy joke, but I still laughed. I also like how McKelvie changes Teddy in between panels. As Gillen writes in his notes for the issue, Teddy is essentially naked all the time. Wouldn’t you be, if you could shapeshift?

This is, I should point out, the first time I’ve bought a second volume of any DCnU book. It’s the only one so far of the originals that have come out in softcover that I’ve cared to continue with. This means something …

I love Lolos’s chutzpah. I know he’s had a LOT of issues in his life that delayed this book several years, and then he goes and puts “to be continued” at the end of it. I really hope his personal life has been sorted out – it sounds like he hasn’t been having much fun recently.

I’ve actually bought the LoEG books since The Black Dossier a lot for the artwork. Moore is going too far up his own bunghole on a good portion of them, but O’Neill’s art is abso-freakin’-lutely brilliant. I keep hoping the story will sync up with the art again, but who knows?

I know this was touch-and-go for a while, because I guess sales of the single issues weren’t that great and Robinson was afraid it would get cancelled, but now it’s here in trade, and it can go right next to my Starman Omnibus collection. True, it’s not a hardcover, but such is life, right?

I had a really beat-up trade of this for a while, but it didn’t include Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136, which I guess is a sequel? but this trade does. So there.

**********

As I noted above, this post is exceptionally late, and I thank you for your patience. The past two weeks have been huge in terms of single issues – 8 one week, 9 the next – and there were a lot of books I really wanted to write about, whether because they featured the death of a 10-year-old or because they were new titles. Plus, the convention was right in the middle of it, and I wanted to get that post up before I dove into these. I’m sure I’ll be back to a normal posting day – Thursday or, at the very latest, Friday – this week, but it is Spring Break, so who knows if that will screw up my schedule at all. Anyway, thanks for waiting.

The only non-comics thing I have this week is that I shaved my beard. On Monday night/Tuesday morning, I couldn’t sleep. Whichever side I slept on, the part of my face that wasn’t on the pillow itched. I had reached the point where I needed to decide if I wanted to start grooming the beard, and whether I wanted to make that commitment. I decided I didn’t want to. If it hadn’t itched so much, I would have kept it, but I didn’t want to take the time to trim it, oil it, and keep it all nice and pretty. So I shaved it. At two in the morning, mind you. It took me about 70-75 minutes, but it’s gone. I don’t know – it was fun, and if I grow one again, I’ll probably make sure to trim it a bit better before it gets too crazy. But for a first attempt, I think it was pretty groovy. My mom was very happy I shaved it – she thinks beards are “creepy.” Here’s the last day with the beard and the first day without:

No iPod this week, so I’ll just say have a nice day, and enjoy Daylight Saving Time, the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the American people! Arizona doesn’t do DST, which is fine with me, because I like being 3 hours behind the East Coast instead of being only 2 hours like we are during the winter. That’s just how I feel, man!

CT

Greg Burgas

Lorrie

Torture porn is the perfect description of Batman, Inc. I don’t want to see brutal, graphic murders of 10-year-old kids in my superhero comics. I just don’t need that shit. I thought I could never truly quit Batman comics, but now I know can.

Travis Pelkie

Man, I’ve been jonesing for this! You can’t take this much time off, man!

And we better get a Flippin’! I had to look through Previews on my own. LIKE AN ANIMAL!!!

And shaving the beard cuz it’s “too itchy”? Wuss.

Anyway, I’ve only read the Batman INC review so far, and I like what you say. It’s obvious they’ll bring Damian back somehow, and I suspect that will be part of the “reason” for killing him. (My money’s on, in any particular order, Lazarus Pit [and Damian thereby using up the rest of the Lazarus Pit energy], Talia or Batman growing a new Damian, or Batman [or somebody] makes a deal with Doctor Hurt. I’m going with the last one.) So I think to a certain to degree this issue will need to be read in that context. However (and it’s like, 2 weeks since I read this, man), I think the “torture porn” aspect of the issue is one worth examining, and I think you do that well.

Hmm, the first part of GMozz’s run seemed to be showing that “nothing stops Batman!”, but here we see that something can (remember that first page of the new Batman INC 1).

I’m loving that Ellie’s back (and she better survive, dammit!).

Actually, since we know that Damian will be back (DC can’t possibly be so stupid they’d get rid of their best character of the last 10 years, can they? Hmmm… I’d say even odds on that one.), the death that bothered me more in INC was the one a couple issues ago, because THAT one isn’t coming back. GRRR!!!

And something something Talia didn’t have to introduce Damian and Bruce to each other something something not sure of my own point she’s trying to destroy Bruce for rejecting her when she has those hypnotic eyes like in her spotlight issue such a great panel something else blah blah blah.

Thanks for a great review Greg!!
There are plans of following the series! so you’ll see at what Paul was hinting about Declan, or maybe not, heh..
anyway we’ve been talking about what is to come and Paul has very cool ideas for it, they make me want to draw the book a lot more than the first 5 issues did!
we’re planning things for Vol 2 and also vol 3!!

also, you looks a lot younger without the beard!! but less wiser too… haha!

Macc

Morrison has stated time and time again that he thought the Death of Jason Todd is what set Batman comics over the edge with the depressing doom and gloom. Morrison also loves to champion the healthy, good Bruce Wayne.

I’m sure Morrison is going to go somewhere interesting with Damian’s death, so I’m not going to start bashing it before the story is finished.

Kabe

T.

I feel that if anyone still reads Didio-run DC mainstream comics, they are basically signing off on being okay with torture porn because it’s a given that it will happen sooner or later in any given title.

T.

Lorrie: I get that, and it really bothers me that I know Morrison can do better. It’s a minority opinion, though, but I wonder if DC is starting to experience some backlash against this kind of superhero comic.

Travis: Yeah, I’m working on the Previews post. Sorry I got so far behind!

I actually like Damian’s “death” less than the one you’re talking about, because we do know he’s coming back. It makes this issue even more ghoulish, if that’s possible. “Look at us – we can do anything to him, because we’ll just resurrect him!” Grrr.

Juan: Good news, indeed, sir! I’m looking forward to it. As for the beard … it’s a trade-off!

Macc: That’s true, but as I noted, just because we don’t have the big picture doesn’t mean we can’t criticize the method he uses in this issue. I’m going to buy Batman, Inc. through its end, so I’m sure it will fit into the “context,” but I still don’t agree with what happens in this particular issue.

Kabe: Ah, good point. You’re absolutely right.

T.: I’ll finish Batman, Inc., and then … man, it’s tough. I’m reading Detective because Layman has managed to avoid that trend, and I like All Star Western because its tone is fine with regard to horrific stuff happening, but you’re right – you just never know when it will show up!

And yeah, I like that page partly because of the homage. If only the issue didn’t go so sideways!

Doug

Journey Into Mystery’s meta-commentary on “exiled” characters was brilliant. If you didn’t catch it, the monsters they’re fighting are old pre-Thor JiM creatures that got pushed out of the book when it became all-Thor.

Also, Valerio Schiti is one of my two new favorite artists; I can’t pick him over Jamie McKelvie or vice-versa. I can’t wait until Beta Ray Bill shows up.

Tom Fitzpatrick

I don’t know, Mr. Burgas, seeing that before and after pics of you — the beard pic reminds me oft Mandy Pankintin on HOMELAND. It actually made you look distinguished compared to the one pic where you shaved (now I’m reminded of one of the three stooges!!!)

As for the story title in GLORY, GRAND GUIGNOL is the second time that I’ve seen it used. STARMAN was the first. You think “Grand Guignol” is being a bit over-used much?

For some reason, the artist in SEX reminds me of a cross between Michael Lark and Dean Motter. Tell me that you don’t see it!

As for the art page of Rocketeer, I thought Darwin Cooke drew this page, not J. Bone. Unless, one is a pen name for the other?

Good to have you back, Mr. Burgas, I take it that you’re back to normal. (What’s normal?!?)

Bill Reed

Wow to Doug! that’s an awesome catch! I love Immonen’s JiM even more than Gillen’s run.

I was missing this feature so much, and I was going crazy wondering if I’d missed some announcement that it was gone for good. Very happy to see I was wrong! I think Colder, and anything by Paul Tobin really, is fantastic, so I’m glad to see you review it. And even though this isn’t something you’re supposed to say around the comics internet, I’m glad to see you picking up more Marvel comics! I really think they’re a great publisher and that they know how to get a ton of great talent together – and I’m not saying people aren’t on to something when they say superhero books have a death-grip on the industry, but I don’t know…if superheroes are just a genre like any other, isn’t there room for some on anybody’s pull list, even if they prefer a more varied selection of books? Maybe I’m just too new to comics and I’ll totally outgrow this soon.
The other thing I think is interesting, and will also make me extremely unpopular, is how often reviews focus on the length of a comic, and how little or how much happened in it. I’ve always thought that was unusual, but I guess it makes sense – movie critics tend to point out if a movie ran too long, ditto for music critics. And I’m not in denial about decompression being a thing…auggh, I don’t know! I sound like a fool in this comment. As always Greg, great reviews and they make me think! I loved ROCKETEER and HELHEIM was great as well.

Greg Burgas

Doug: Yeah, when I was checking out who created the monsters, I noticed they were all from old Journey into Mystery issues. Nice move by Immonen.

Tom: Well, using a title twice in 15 years doesn’t really count, does it? I think I have seen it used since Starman, but I can’t remember where. I think it’s safe for a while, though.

Re: Kowalski – that’s not a bad comparison at all.

Bone’s art is very reminiscent of Cooke’s, and really always has been. If I recall correctly, Bone has inked Cooke in the past, so perhaps it’s not surprising.

P. Boz: I can’t stand those movies, but I imagine the overlap is fairly common. As I’ve noted, I really don’t have a problem with stuff like this, but I’m a bit depressed it’s SO prevalent in superhero comics. It seems worse in that genre, for some reason.

Bill: That would have been fun. I’m mad I didn’t think of it!

Pure Mood: I have some credit at my store, so I’m getting all the Marvel NOW! #1 issues, but you’re right – in the past few years, I’ve moved more to Marvel, because I just think they have better talent and not as much editorial interference. I’m talking about the middle-tier books, mostly – Deadpool and Journey into Mystery and Young Avengers aren’t the top-level comics, but they have really good people working on them. And I love superheroes, so I’m always glad when I feel I can actually buy superhero comics and enjoy them.

I don’t always write about the length of comics, but when Marvel and DC are charging so much for fewer pages or pages that don’t have much substance on them, I think it’s a valid criticism. It’s frustrating reading 6 issues and getting only part of a story and paying so much for it. But I try not to do it too often!

Travis Pelkie

I’ll definitely be getting Colder in trade. For some reason none of the shops around had any copies of any issues, but when the trade is solicited, I’ll get it.

Unless I already missed it. I don’t know, I need Flippin’!!!

I’m really diggin’ Detective. It’s great that we get done in ones that actually build to an overall arc, rather than “part 4 of 6″. It’s like Layman used to be a really good editor or something. And he’s damn funny, too. Undoubtedly handsome, as well.

Do you think he’ll send me some Chew trades, for all that butt kissin’?

Man, Glory’s been great. I even emailed Ross about last issue’s last page, it gave me such a nerdgasm. Bloodwulf!!! I’ll be re-reading this whole run when the last issue comes out, just to see all the neat stuff. My main quibble with the book is that the first few issues introduced so many neat concepts, and the last few issues seem to have crammed everything to this final battle, and it’s too bad things didn’t play out as long as they could have.

GOTG did suck. But was that comic the kid was reading MCP? Looked to me more like one of the ’70s Marvel Premieres, with Star-Lord or something. I’ll have to pull it out. Anyway, it totally threw me that the kid was reading a ’70s Marvel book, but if you’re correct, it fits the time period and I suck. I hope they get Brad Pitt to play J’son (was that his name? God, it was so dull I don’t even remember. Damn hype getting me to buy dumb books!) like it appears he was modelled after.

I keep telling you Hawkeye’s an idiot in that book, and that his comic is overrated, but NOOO, no one listens to me. Ok, maybe I haven’t “kept” telling you, but man, this book… there are so many times where there’s really good stuff in it, then there’s this issue. Like the Annie Wu stuff… beautiful, and effective storytelling, even in pinups. But Clint is so fucking stupid. So is “Cherry” or whatever — her bit with the comics sent to Clint makes no sense and is a stupid method for what she was trying to do. ARGH. And were we supposed to be able to tell that that was Jessica Drew there? Cuz I only realized who it was in reading online that Clint is apparently dating her now. I’m guessing that that relationship is occurring in Avengers Assemble? Perhaps Fraction could have included Jessica in Hawkeye before this, or mentioned her last name, for those of us who don’t live with the writer of Avengers Assemble.

I’ll have to get Helheim in trade too. Another guy beat me to it at the one comic shop, and I didn’t see it elsewhere, although I had seen a B&W preview copy, for the same cover price. Maybe I’ll snag that if it’s still there.

Man, I better get JIM in trade too. It was offered last month but I’d gotten a lot of other stuff. ARGH!

LDK has been so damn good overall. Some weak spots here and there, but it really is good stuff. I hope more people are buying it, because I don’t want to have to buy it digitally only, dammit!

Lost Vegas was decent, but I wasn’t bowled over by it. Good stuff, and I ordered the mini in toto, but it didn’t blow my mind.

Rocketeer HH was excellent. I think the first issue was even better than the Waid/Samnee mini, and that was still damn good. [insert joke about J Bone drawing Betty and giving a bone(r)]

SEX — I actually had no idea what the main…thrust…of the series was. Finding that it apparently is going to be “Batman grows up and stops playing superhero and gets laid” is pretty neat. If that’s where it’s going.

I ordered it based on the title, and that it’s Joe Casey. Here’s a pull quote they can use: “I paid 3 bucks for SEX from Joe Casey and was only mildly disappointed!” And another: “Sonia Harris makes SEX look great!” Oh boy, the jokes on this one will keep me laughing for MONTHS!!!

Actually, though, I got taken out of the sex scene because one of the yellow panels (I think) features (pseudo)-cunnilingus, and from the other panels, the girls are in 69 position, but in that panel, it appears the licker is face to…face, we’ll say, with the lickee.

It’s been awhile, though, so I might be misremembering how things look. (TMI!)

While I like the Moebius-esque (or possibly Dave Taylor, I think he letters like that) lettering, I did find the “highlighting” odd. No seeming rhyme or reason to it, unless it’s a secret code!

I decided to pass on Young Avengers 2. 1 just didn’t do it for me. So of course it sounds like it was better this time!

That is true about Damian’s death being “worse” because we know he’ll be back. You make a fair point, sir!

I did call you a wuss for shaving your beard “because it’s itchy WAH!”, and I stand by that, but I think you probably look better without it. How did the wife and kids like it?

I hope you get Flippin’ up by Tuesday night so I know what else to look for in Previews. It was so weird to look at it and not know what was coming! One oddball thing I liked in there was there’s a Galactus head…bottle opener, I think? Whatever it was, it looked neat.

Man, I type a lot. And I still need to go back through the other posts from the end of the year on to read your thoughts on books I’ve finally read.

I forget, I assume you’re getting Punk Rock Jesus in trade, right? Pretty good stuff, the ending wasn’t the best, and I had issues with some of the characterizations, but the artwork is amazing, obviously. Murphy’s totally going to sucker me into buying another Scott Snyder book, isn’t he? Dammit!

Rusty Priske

Batman Inc. was a very, very bad comic. In addition to being terribly written and poorly drawn (the art itself was good, but the flow from page to page was poor), they managed to elimiante pretty much the only thing that was good in the previous issues.

I am now buying zero Batman comics.

I disagree strongly about Guardians of the Galaxy. This was a VERY good comic… unfortunately, it is now going to go off and be a space opera, whcih means it will likely be very boring.

I wish I disagreed about Hawkeye. It was still good but the last two issues have been very below the current standard.

If you want to read a different Fraction comic that FEELS like this great run on Hawkeye, check out the latest FF. Allred instead of Aja is clearly a different look, but it has the same feeling of fun.

Travis: I can’t remember if the trade for Colder has been solicited yet. I know it hasn’t shipped yet!

You’ll have to come out to AZ and buy Layman a beer. Maybe then he’ll give you a Chew trade!

It certainly looks like a MCP – the logo at the top seems to be the one from the early 1990s. I could be wrong, I guess, but that’s what it looked like to me. I actually tried to find out on Google if anyone had identified it, but my Google-fu is weak, apparently.

The problem with Hawkeye is that Fraction isn’t writing for the trade, so you never know when one issue is going to be brilliant. And the good ones are usually sooooo good that the ones that don’t measure up stand out. Plus, I just love Aja’s artwork. I agree with you, though, that Clint’s relationship was kind of skimmed over. I only knew because he called her “Jessica” and because Kelly and Sue (I think) mentioned it in the podcast. Damned interconnected comics!

I actually understand what you mean with the sex scene in Sex. I just looked at it, and you’re right. I just attributed it to the women moving around a lot, but you’re right.

I can get why you bailed on YA, but I’m pretty confident in the Gillen/McKelvie/Norton/Wilson team, so even if I don’t love the plot quite yet, I’m enjoying the other parts of the book. I think Gillen writes excellent dialogue, and it’s a joy to read.

My wife didn’t care what I did with my face. My older daughter was fascinated by it, but my younger daughter wasn’t a fan. And I don’t care if I’m a wuss! I don’t sleep great anyway, so anything that interferes with that must be excised from my life! I do think I’m going to grow it again, but shave my neck regularly to keep it from getting too nuts. That might work!

I’ll have the Previews post up today, I swear! And yes, I’m getting Punk Rock Jesus in trade. I’m looking forward to it! And it’s funny that you bring up The Wake. That’s exactly what I wrote about it in Flippin’ through Previews. Spoooooky!

Rusty: Well, I disagree with you about Batman, Inc., but that’s okay. The reason I’m so angry at it is because I think it was so well-written and nicely-drawn – the creators sucked me right in!

I didn’t love the first issue of FF, but I’ve been hearing good things about it, so I’ll get it in trade. Trades are awesome!

SKFK

“If I recall correctly, Bone has inked Cooke in the past, so perhaps it’s not surprising.”

J. Bone was the inker for Darwyin Cooke’s revival of The Spirit. As a matter of fact, when J. Bone had to leave The Spirit because of other work commitments, Cooke decided to end his run as well, since Cooke didn’t think he could keep up the monthly schedule by himself.

“[insert joke about J Bone drawing Betty and giving a bone(r)]”

Actually, J. Bone is gay.

R.

I feel like you’re being too harsh on Bendis for GotG. I agree that it’s too slow a comic–an origin that could be told in so many fewer pages–but items like how Peter is conceived or what happens to his mom aren’t really Bendis’s doing. They’re holdovers from the original story. Blame him for the bullying, sure, but blame everything that happens to Meredith on Englehart.

R.: That’s a fair point, but I’ve been reading some things about how long-time fans of Peter Quill don’t recognize these characters anyway because Bendis changed them so much, so there’s no reason for him to regard Englehart’s version as canonical (and I don’t know, so I don’t know if he changed them all that much, but I have seen some people complaining about that). I mean, it’s not like Meredith is such an iconic character that Bendis couldn’t tweak things a bit.

Travis Pelkie

I agree with Rusty about FF, it’s really good, and the latest issue (4) was really nice with She-Hulk on a date. What’s odd with the trades is that I’ve seen on the Amazon a trade that includes the first 3 issues of both FF and F4 (damn Hickman for making it harder to abbreviate Fantastic Four — even the book title is written for the omni!), and one that appears to be just FF — but the info for the book describes the Millar Old Man Logan omni, so I dunno what issues are included. I’d probably go with one that’s just FF if you’re leaning one way or another, but F4 hasn’t been terrible.

And since I do agree with Rusty on FF, I don’t know why he thinks GotG was good. He’s a smart guy, so I guess we’ll just agree to disagree.

Regardless of J Bone’s orientation, his depiction of Betty gave me a bone(r). Are you happy now that I had to spell it out?!?!

I agree with your love of the Glory issue. Great stuff. I would absolutely buy a hardcover of this run. And should it be counted as a mini-series? Seems like it should, right?

I agree that Hawkeye 8 wasn’t the best issue of the series, but I’m not that down on it. It’s simply not a title I buy to be blown away by the writing. Rather, I buy it to be blown away by the visual design, because it’s fun and irreverent, and because there isn’t really another BIg 2 book like it and I like supporting that kind of thing. And this issue still gave me all of those things, even if I didn’t purely enjoy it as much as, say, issue 6.

And a general comment about Marvel Now vs. the New 52: While I’ve certainly been disappointed by a fair number of the Marvel Now books (I’ve already dropped Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Uncanny X-Force), I will say this about all of them–Marvel seems to be not just allowing, but absolutely encouraging their writers and artists to give each book it’s own voice and feel. Hawkeye is very much its own book, as is Savage Wolverine, as is FF, as is Young Avengers, as are Deadpool, Thor God of Thunder, Wolverine & The X-Men, Captain America, and all of the others (at least that I’ve read). Some of them are better than others, but they all feel uniquely different. The New 52 still has (a precious few) good books, but they all look and feel like they came off the same Dan Didio assembly line. It’s like DC looked at the comic book industry two years ago and somehow determined that what readers want is blandness. It’s baffling.

I picked up Helheim on your recommendation, and I did like it, but I actually think Fearless Defenders was the slightly better first issue. Actually, let me rephrase that. I think Helheim as a #1 issue was better, but I think Fearless Defenders is the more original book. That’s the one that bears virtually no resemblance to anything else Marvel (or DC) publishes. Two C-list female characters that have virtually no fan-base and nothing to do with one another teaming up for an ongoing series? That strikes me as original and daring, while Helheim seems like a pretty boilerplate genre mash-up and something that is riding on the coattails of Walking Dead and people’s desire to see swords attacking corpses and making them even corpsier. Like I said, I enjoyed the comic well enough and will give it a whirl for a while, I just think the unfavorable comparison towards Fearless Defenders is a little unfair. Although in the interest of full disclosure, I was kinda disappointed with that first issue, although not because of the concept. Rather I just thought it was kinda poorly written. Love the concept.

I liked the latest Massive arc a lot, because it seemed to take a step towards just letting the audience explore and spend time in this world instead of more about how we got there. It feels like a comic that’s close to hitting it’s stride.

Sex didn’t really do anything for me (god, people will have fun with that name, won’t they?). Like you, I have a lot of faith in Casey, so I’ll keep getting for a while, but I thought this was just a bad first issue. But unlike you, I really disliked the coloring. I just found it distracting and unnecessary. Loved the lettering though. We’ll see on this one.

I’m enjoying Snapshot. There just aren’t enough good black and white books out. And as you said, Jock looks fantastic in that format.

I’m all in on Young Avengers. I think the issues seem a little too decompressed for my tastes, but the dialogue and characterization and art are top notch, and as mentioned above with the Marvel Now books, I think it has a unique voice, and it’s one which I want to hear.

Random question: In the shaved picture, that appears to be a framed piece of original comic art in the background. If so, what is it?

And a rondom thought/gripe about your created by credits: Is it really fair to say Lee/Kirby created all of those Asgardian characters? Aren’t they all traditional folk characters from myths and legends, and isn’t their characterization in the Marvel U kept pretty close to their traditional characterization? I mean, I guess Lee/Kirby created these iterations of the characters, but by that token Grant Morrison created “interesting” Animal Man, Peter Milligan created “PG” John Constantine, Keiron Gillen created “Kid” Loki, Jason Aaron created “Headmaster” Wolverine, etc.

But in general, I tend to take a lot of issue with creator credits. I steadfastly believe Chris Claremont should get the lead creator credit on Wolverine, with Wein/Romita coming next. And I find it fascinating that Wolfman/Perez get Nightwing creator credit (which they deserve), but that’s never followed up by “Dick Grayson created by XXX,” as though Nightwing came fully formed out of the ether. And then there’s the whole Ghost Rider thing, which pisses me off to the extent that I have vowed to never support another Ghost Rider comic ever. I find it all mind-boggling.

Daniel: So much stuff!!!! I totally agree with you on the Marvel NOW! stuff. It’s really interesting, how things change in the Big Two, and I still think that Bob Harras has a lot to do with it!

Interesting point about Helheim versus Fearless Defenders. I agree that Helheim is a mash-up thing for people who like The Walking Dead, but I don’t think the concept of Fearless Defenders is so much better, except for the fact that the two characters don’t have much of a fan base. Unless the concept is so amazingly unique, I tend to stick with what’s done better, and I think Helheim was done better.

Actually, behind me in the “after” picture is an olde-tymey map of Thailand that my mom got for me when she visited there. It might not surprise anyone to know that I’m a HUGE fan of maps, especially olde-tymey ones, so I have that, a reproduction of a 16th-century map of Wales (with west at the top!) and a map of Philadelphia from the late 19th century on that wall. It’s a cool wall!

I get what you’re saying about the creator credits – I think the Asgardian characters have moved so beyond their archetypal versions that we can say they were created by Lee and Kirby. I don’t want to get too crazy with them, though, even though you make a good point about who “popularized” or “altered” them – I just want to point out, really, that Marvel and DC rarely ever list creator credits, which I think is awfully douchey of them.

Travis: Dang! While I was pointing out that it was, in fact, an olde-tymey map, you commented that it was. Good eye, sir! (And you’ll note I wrote the “after” picture, because I feel the same way you do!)

Third Man

Oh, I totally agree that it’s ridiculous how few creator credits get listed in Marvel and DC comics, and I absolutely love that you list them. For many of these characters, I don’t even know what the creator credit is until I see you list it. I guess my issue is often with what the official credits are, and how inconsistent they sometimes are with reality. And a problem I have with creator credits in general is that they only honor the initial version, as opposed to “best” or “most notable” version. Wolverine is the obvious example, and I wonder whether the film this summer, which is allegedly a pretty faithful adaptation of the mini-series, will mention Claremont or Frank Miller in the credits. If the film’s screenplay is directly adapted from their work, you’d think they ought to be credited, but I sort of doubt they will.

And it’s strange that Marvel and DC don’t list more creator credits. Unless letterers are actually being paid by letter, listing those extended credits wouldn’t cost them anything, it’s the right thing to do, and it would make both fans and creators happy going forward. Maybe they’re worried giving credits like that is a slippery slope towards more rights for freelancers and work-for-hire situations.